Farkas Bulkmeier
Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier, also known as "Bulky", by Skull and Spike, and is a fictional character in the Power Rangers universe. He appeared as a permanent cast member from the original series of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers until Power Rangers In Space, and has also appeared several times after this. This makes him one of the longest-serving permanent cast members in Power Rangers. Bulk and Skull, from the very beginning, provided much of the comic relief in the series, usually through over-the-top slapstick (often accompanied by a suitable soundtrack). This was no doubt highlighted by their physical appearances: Bulk was obese and Skull lean. Biographies Familial heritage and origin Bulk and Skull may well have been destined to be friends as evidenced by the Power Rangers' encounter with doppelganger duos in two past eras of Angel Grove. *In the colonial Angel Grove of the late 18th century, the Power Rangers observed Uncle Ben and the town regiment's commander to be identical to Bulk and Skull. The two would become friends after the Power Rangers saved the town from the Wizard of Deception and his Rat Monsters. *A One-Eyed Bulk and Doc Skullovitch lived in the Wild West Angel Grove of the year 1880. Pre-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Bulk and Skull probably attended the same elementary school as the kids who would later become Power Rangers. Before the events that happened in the first season, it was revealed that they became best friends after the incident where Bulk decided to not beat up Skull for shoving a Popsicle down his shirt. The UK tie-in magazines of the early 90s claimed that the two met as infants; whenever Bulk cried, Skull cried too. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Bulk and Skull started out as bullies at Angel Grove High School and often hung out at the Youth Center and Juice Bar. Their actions are motivated by greed and ego in the first seasons. Wacky schemes abound, and occasionally flirting with Trini and Kimberly, always ending with their failure and humiliation. Mr. Caplan also frequently abuses them, putting them in detention for even the slightest of irritations to him, such as failing a test or even pranking him. As a result, like with Stone later on the two are in great fear of the man until his last appearance in Turbo, Carlos And The Count. In the episode Green With Evil Part IV: "Eclipsing Megazord", Bulk and Skull are trying to escape in an abandoned bus when they are captured by a giant-sized Goldar. However, just as the Putty Patrollers are about to push the bus with Bulk and Skull in it off a cliff, the Power Rangers form the Megazord and help Bulk and Skull to safety before engaging in a fierce battle against Goldar, Scorpina, and a giant-sized Green Ranger. During the second season they attempted to discover the secret identities of the Power Rangers and repeatedly failed. Ironically enough, they did discover the Rangers' identities twice: once they saved the Rangers when the Ranger team lost their memories and were de-morphed in front of them; Bulk and Skull tricked the monster to fire his amnesia beam through a prism, distorting the beam and restoring the Rangers' memories. Unfortunately, Bulk and Skull lost their short-term memories in the process due to being flung back by the amnesia beam and landing on their heads. The second time a psychic pointed the Ranger teens out to Bulk, but he didn't believe her as they were holding a picture of the morphed Ranger team at the time just given to them by Ernie. A popular change of direction for the duo occurred in the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, when they joined the Angel Grove Junior Police Force (in an attempt to impress women, due to their belief that women love men in uniforms) and first met Lieutenant Stone. Lt. Stone became a permanent character himself, frequently giving Bulk and Skull orders that they failed to perform, leading eventually to his anger (rather than their humiliation). Despite this, Bulk and Skull were close to Lt. Stone. Power Rangers: Zeo During Power Rangers: Zeo, Bulk and Skull remained members of the Junior Police Force. Also, Bulk learned Skull's deepest secret during the Youth Center talent show - Skull was skilled at playing classical music on a piano. Rather than make fun of his friend, Bulk admitted he was moved by the music and congratulated Skull. At one point, Bulk fell for the police chief's daughter, and sought Tanya's advice on romance since he had no experience himself. Bulk's attempts aggravated the chief to the point of getting Lt Stone fired from the force. Bulk and Skull quit the Junior Police Force as a show of loyalty to Stone. Now working as private detectives, Bulk and Skull did what they could to assist Stone in solving cases, no matter how small. When it came to passing their detective test, both failed miserably, but were given passing grades for "braving a monster attack" to continue the test. During this time, Bulk and Skull secretly hosted Rito and Goldar, characters who lost their memories after the attack at the end of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This came to an end when the duo regained their memories and left, stealing Bulk and Skull's motorcycle in the process''.'' Power Rangers: Turbo At the start of Power Rangers: Turbo, the gap between Good as Gold and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie revealed that Bulk and Skull had returned from France and reconciled with Stone. All three eventually got a chance to rejoin the Police Force (which, like many of the holes in the season, was never fully explained) before Lt. Stone went to replace Ernie as owner of the Gym and Juice Bar. Unfortunately before they could get back to work, they were transformed into chimpanzees by Elgar. This marked a permanent end to Bulk and Skull's career in the police. Bulk and Skull remain chimpanzees for several episodes. They are voiced by the actors who play Bulk and Skull; however, only the audience can understand them. Jerome Stone takes the chimpanzees into his care (claiming that they seem 'familiar'), and they make several attempts to inform him of their true identities. They are eventually transformed back into humans, but a temporary side-affect renders them invisible. This state only lasted for a few episodes before they finally returned to normal and attempted to take on proper jobs (Stone arranged for them to get a new one most episodes, one example being their jobs at the detective agency). The two also found themselves being put back in detention by Mr. Caplan in Carlos And The Count, despite the fact both had already graduated (and the fact that Caplan's detention gag was already exhausted by this time). Caplan was then written out of the show with no explanation. Power Rangers: In Space During Power Rangers: In Space, Jerome Stone also left the series without explanation and Bulk and Skull finally found permanent jobs helping the rather loony Professor Phenomenus locate and capture extraterrestrial life. During this, the three were captured by Astronema's Datascammer monster and later transformed into data cards but were soon restored to normal and returned to Earth. The best transformation and growth of Bulk and Skull's characters is shown in the climax finale, Countdown to Destruction. Towards the end of that episode, Astronema's forces have conquered Earth. Later that night, when the citizens were doubting the Rangers showing up, thinking they abandoned them, Bulk reassured them that they wouldn't abandon them and believe they were with them. The following morning, Astronema returns and asks rounded-up citizens of Angel Grove where the Rangers are - getting no response, she prepares to attack the citizens. Before she is able to do so, Bulk, Skull and Professor Phenomenous pretend to be Rangers to buy the real team some time. A minute or so later, when Astronema doesn't buy the ruse, the real Rangers teens show up, and breaking with tradition, morph in front of everyone, showing their identities to the world. They begin to fight the hundreds of Quantrons and Piranhatrons in the area. At this point, Bulk can't stand to see the Rangers he adores against these odds, so leads the citizens of Angel Grove in a fight for their city, and everyone joins in fighting the monsters alongside the Rangers. The cry for everyone to "get in there" to fight alongside the Rangers is widely seen as the finest hour for Bulk and Skull's characters. Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy A year later, Bulk and Professor Phenomenus board the space station bio-dome Terra Venture for its interstellar journey to a new world, in order to finally get away from all of the monster and alien attacks in Angel Grove. Skull, however, did not wake up in time and was left behind (Bulk and Phenomenus not realizing they'd left him behind until it was too late). They got jobs in the science division, not as prominent as they were in the previous seasons, Bulk and Professor Phenomenus ran the Comet Cafe on Terra Venture after being canned from the science division. At the end of the series, Terra Venture arrived on Mirinoi along with Bulk and Phenomenus. Power Rangers: Wild Force During the Power Rangers: Wild Force episode Forever Red, Bulk and Skull made a special cameo appearance. It is not explained how Bulk returned from Mirinoi, but he is most likely there for the fans' enjoyment. Bulk and Skull were shown as servers and managers of a tropical-themed bar called "Bulkmeiers". Tommy Oliver, the former Power Ranger, is also present. In this episode, Bulk and Skull were shown playing Psycho Ranger chess while having a conversation about the early days of Power Rangers - in particular, Bulk is bragging to Skull about how he once saw Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa despite the fact that Skull saw them also. This seems to contradict the fact that the Earth's rotation was apparently reversed in two separate instances, turning them into kids and making them lose their memories of those villains, with no explanation as to how they regained their memories. With Spike Many years after Wild Force, Bulk (without Skull) returned, with his nephew, Spike (who is Skull's son), in order to teach him the way of the Samurai. Once again it isn't explained how Bulk returned from Mirinoi, but like with Forever Red, he is likely there for the fans' enjoyment. Samurai During the episode "Origins" Bulk watched as his nephew Spike arrived from the bus. After that both of them moved to a house. Bulk stated that he will teach him the way of the Samurai. Both of them went to many adventures such as watching the Power Rangers do their job to save the world as well as trying to copy their moves. In some occasions they helped the rangers. Following Spike's arrival, Bulk introduced him to his new clubhouse which he had just finished fixing up. He announced to his nephew, who vainly attempted to alert his new "Sensei" from falling into one of his comical mishaps, that it would here where he would train under him as a samurai. At one time (In the episode "Day Off"), Bulk and Spike went to a carnival to have fun (without knowing the Samurai Rangers were there as well) and won a panda (which they named Sam, short for Samurai). Discussing whether samurai wore boxers or briefs, Bulk and Skull were confronted by the spiteful Nighlok Negatron, who sent them blasted away by branding them "samurai wannabes". Returning home defeated, Bulk put their makeshift weapons on the "Spoils of War" shelf, serving as a reminder of how nasty these monsters were. Spike was disillusioned by this intimidating encounter, doubting himself as a samurai. Bulk reassured his enthusiasm, however, telling Spike that a samurai should not doubt and that they only needed to train harder. Setting out for a rematch with the monster, the pair arrived too late as the now giant monster was being engaged by the Samurai Megazord, cheering on the Rangers as they destroyed him. Facing their fears, Bulk and Spike embarked on a hike with mosquito repellent and bear spray respectively. Finding the other hikers fleeing in panic, the pair encountered the Nighlok Madimot. Their attempt to play dead like possums did not fool the Nighlok, but he had to attend to the Samurai Rangers and so took his leave. Having survived their first "battle", Bulk announced to Spike that they were now officially samurai warriors. Later on, the pair heard the intimidating call of the TigerZord, which Bulk believed was a mountain lion. In "Broken Dreams", Bulk and Spike attempt to ward off Rhinosnorus while they were in the dream world, but the monster scares them. During "Test of the Leader", Bulk and Spike got into a battle between the Nighloks and Power Rangers. When Spike saw the Pink Ranger, he immediately started to have a crush on her similar to his father's crush on Kimberly. After that, they left the battlefield. Bulk and Spike were among the victims of the Nighlok thief Antberry, who stole Sam from them in the night while leaving his trademark slime behind. After the Samurai Rangers defeated Antberry, they anonymously returned Sam among all the stolen toys to their rightful owners. At Christmas, Bulk and Spike's eyes were caught by a bike only to be dismayed that they could not afford it. Returning home, Bulk tried to repair his old bike for Spike. When that ended in vain, the pair cheered themselves up by fondly reminiscing over the escapades that they had shared since meeting to train as a samurai. Miraculously, Bulk and Spike received a new motorcycle from Mike, who saw that they needed the Christmas gift more than he did. Super Samurai During the Switchbeast incident, Bulk's spirit was swapped with an abandoned soda can, suffering being kicked around by three kids. Eventually recovered by a trashman, the can Bulk was saved just short of being flattened by his boot as the Samurai Rangers returned everyone to their bodies. Seeking a heroic act to perform as per the samurai way, Bulk and Spike attempted to rescue a stray cat which was seemingly stuck on a tree, only to end up stuck themselves while the cat promptly climbed down. Conceptualizing each other's samurai symbols, Bulk drew a twig representing Spike's versatility. He was dismayed to find that Spike depicted him by sketching a hamburger. In "He Ain't Heavy Metal, He's My Brother", both Bulk and Spike passed by a concert poster and gets the idea to make their own band. They even rehearsed and made attempts to hire people. At the end of the episode, both of them went to the concert (without the people they hired) to perform their rap. In "Runaway Spike", both Spike and Bulk had to pay the money they owe for their house, making Spike apply for many jobs, only to get fired from them. During the end of that episode, they helped Antonio just so they can make enough money to pay their debts. In "The Strange Case of the Munchies", Bulk and Spike went to the Shiba House to return Mia's wallet. Instead, both of them trained as Samurai until the end of the episode, when they returned the wallet. Later in "Samurai Forever", Skull arrived to pick up his son Spike. Before that, they talked about how the Power Rangers saved the world from the Nighloks. Family *Mr. Bulkmeier - Father *Mrs. Bulkmeier - Mother *Eugene Skullovitch - Honorary brother **Spike Skullovitch - Honorary nephew Notes *During the filming of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, the actors (Schrier and Narvy) felt underused. To make up for this, they were given the position of assistant director for the Power Rangers TV episodes that were being filmed at the time. **Paul Schrier even directed a Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers episode, "Attack of the 60' Bulk", in which he also performed the voice of Bratboy (young Bulk's transformed self), despite his regular character at the time being reduced to the age of a child. *Bulk is the longest-running character, spanning for 7 consecutive seasons: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Seasons 1-3); Power Rangers: Zeo, Power Rangers: Turbo, Power Rangers: in Space, and Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy. Including Wild Force, Samurai, ''and Super Samurai'', he has been in ten seasons. *Bulk is the only one of six guest characters in "Forever Red", the others being Tommy, T.J, Leo, Wes and Skull, to reappear after "Forever Red", with himself reappearing in Samurai, while Tommy came out of retirement in Dino Thunder, plus a morphed-only appearance in the SPD episode "Wormhole". Skull makes a cameo appearance in the Super Samurai finale. Leo helped to rescue trapped civilians in Legendary Battle, T.J returned for the 25th anniversary special Dimensions in Danger and Wes made a brief appearance during the Super Ninja Steel finale. *Bulk is the only non-Ranger character that has appeared in 286 episodes, more than any character in the show's history. This is only rivaled by Alpha 5, a character that Bulk occasionally bullied, who has 209 episodic appearances, Skull with 253, and Ernie, who has 102. *In Power Rangers: Samurai, Bulk considers himself a true Samurai warrior. *The only episodes Bulk appeared without Skull are: Stolen Beauty, Journey's End, and every episode of Samurai and Super Samurai except Samurai Forever. *Bulk, along with Skull, is the only character to appear both in Zordon Era and Super Samurai. *Around the time of Zeo, Saban planned to make a Bulk and Skull comedy spinoff show, where they would run a hotel (Jason Narvy has said that he thinks it was "their grandmothers' hotel"). A Mexican Elvis impersonator was going to be a supporting character. Narvy claims that the video release The Good, The Bad, and the Stupid was put out as a "test market" and when "no one out there bought it", Saban cancelled the plans.Power Morphicon 2010 (Part 3) : Dark Side of the Power Coin : Black Nerd (1.17 to 1.31 and 2.41 to 3.00) * In Hungarian, Farkas (Bulk's first name) means "wolf". *Bulk, in Season 1 seems to be able to lift up or hold Skull and Billy with ease as shown in Happy Birthday, Zack and Doomsday and Fowl Play. *In Season 1, Bulk wore shirts with ring designs. *In the season 1 episode A Pressing Engagement Bulk somehow had set the Angel Grove Youth Center's bench press record of 1010 reps. Jason broke this record by the end of the episode with Bulk swearing he'd get the record back. *Bulk is the only person on the Terra Venture to not stay on Mirinoi. References See also *Skull, Bulk's best friend, whom he had spent much time with throughout the show. *Richard Brown, a character from Shinkenger that played a similar role to Bulk. *Amanda Clarke, a female equivalent of Bulk in the 2017 movie ru:Фаркас Булкмаер Category:Mighty Morphin Category:Mighty Morphin 1 Category:Mighty Morphin 2 Category:Mighty Morphin 3 Category:Zeo Category:Turbo Category:In Space Category:Lost Galaxy Category:PR Civilians Category:Wild Force Category:PR Allies Category:Samurai Category:PR Ranger Wannabes